//------------------------------//
// Settling in with Dash, Sparkle and Shy 
// Story: School of Wizardry and Ponies 
// by Ranoa- Walker of Worlds 
//------------------------------//


-Number 4 Privet Drive, Surry- 

When Vernon and Petunia Dursley were convicted, their home and physical assets were turned over to Vernon’s sister Marge. The woman decided that it would be more profitable to sell the house on Privet Drive and put her sibling’s and in-law’s possessions into storage. The money she got from the sale was put to her dog kennel business. It should be noted for the future that eventually her kennel was investigated and was shut down because of malpractice and mistreatment of animals. Dudley became a part of the foster system who had problems with delinquency until he ended up in the care of a former drill master.
Almost as soon as number four was processed and put on the market a family of four moved in. The man of the house, Albert Manning, worked as a branch manager for the Bank of England. His wife Sarah was a full time mother dealing with their three-year-old daughter Michelle and their one-year-old son David. The house was a bit bland for their liking but it was affordable and in a decent enough neighborhood. The Manning family didn’t have a working dryer yet so after Mrs. Manning would process her clothes she would take them out back and hang them up to dry on a line. It was in this chore that she first heard the name Harry Potter.
The woman next door had come out to meet Sarah as the young mother hung her laundry up for the June sun to dry out. Sarah found out from her neighbor the story about the former occupants of number four. To say the least she was quite disturbed when she heard about how the family mistreated their nephew. The woman next door was sad to admit that she had taken the lies that they perpetuated about the kid and his deceased family at face value. She vowed that if she ever saw Harry Potter again she would apologize profusely for not seeing the signs of his woes.
It was only a day after this conversation that Harry Potter came up again. Michelle and David were making a racket in the living room as they expended their seemingly never ending supply of energy with their toys and a movie. Sarah was trying to unpack a few boxes from the move in when the phone rang. Dutifully she answered it,
“Hello?”
“Hello! Is this thing working?” A boy’s voice came loudly through the speaker. Trying to remain calm even after receiving an earful Sarah responded,
“Yes, it is. Who is this?”
“My name’s Ron Weasley. I am looking for Harry Potter.” The boy on the other end inquired still a bit too loudly. It was like the boy on the other end of the line was uncertain that his voice would be heard through the phone.
“I’m sorry, but there is no Harry Potter at this number anymore.” She responded, then a thought crossed her mind, “How do you know him?”
“I’m his mate from school. He gave me this number before the holiday started, said I could call.”
“I’m sorry, Ron was it? We moved in after the old family was forced away. From what I’ve heard his former guardians are in prison and your friend was moving in with some cousins.”
The line went silent for a while, the boy on the other end of the line was obviously surprised by this news.
“Um, you wouldn’t happen to know where he moved do you?”
“Sorry, I don’t have that information.” Sarah responded with sincerity.
“Oh, alright then. Thanks.” The call ended with Sarah feeling sad for the boy named Ron.
When her husband got home later that night Sarah told Albert about the phone call. Curious about the fate of Harry Potter Albert did a quick search for news articles relating to Mr. Potter’s case. Albert found a few small articles about the circumstances around the Dursley’s trial and the relocation of the soon to be twelve-year-old. He even found a photo with one of the articles with a picture of the cousin he had been sent to live with.
For the smallest of moments Albert was taken aback by the appearance of Celestia Faust. He was about to make comment about her multicolored hair when something happened. For those with eyes that could see, a small rainbow of color passed over his eyes and suddenly his thoughts were no longer on Ms. Faust’s appearance; rather they were on the name of the social worker that gave comment on behalf of Mr. Potter.
“Sarah, remind me to call Marisa Sanders tomorrow. She handled Mr. Potter’s case.”
“What for?”
“I want to see if she has a forwarding address for the kid. Just in case any more of his friends try to contact him.”
And with that they went on with their evening.

-Athletic Fields, Canterlot High School-
 
Even though Rainbow Dash was not a happy morning riser she was more than glad to get up and get to the school’s soccer fields before the summer heat set in. Her routine included a few laps of running, stretching, and drills. The drills were her favorite part of her practice, that was because it actually involved kicking a ball.
The only part of her practice she lamented was the fact that she practiced alone. None of her close friends had the same skill as she did, and the rest of the soccer team were not available before the start of the season. So out here, alone she practiced; though her mind was in other places. Namely the portal on the other side of campus. Rainbow Dash was hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever government agency was investigating the portal. She wanted to be the one who would crack the case wide open.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she lost control of the ball she was dribbling and it rolled far enough to let her catch a view of someone watching her. She focused on her spectator and saw a familiar black haired Brit.
“Hey Harry! How’s it going?”
Harry waved hello to the older girl and approached.
“Hello Rainbow Dash. I’m doing fine. What are you doing out here so early?”
“Practicing.” The rainbow colored girl responded, “I’ve gotta stay in top form for the upcoming school year. It’s my last year so I need to look good for the recruiters.”
“Recruiters?”
“For college. My grades aren’t good enough to get me in on an academic scholarship so I do my best in sports to make up for it.” To prove her point Rainbow Dash started juggling the ball with her feet.
“So what are you doing here Harry?”
Harry looked around,
“Aunt Celestia and Luna had some work here at the school to take care of really quick. They said I should take a look around the grounds. We are heading out shopping after they get done.”
“That’s cool.” Rainbow said before she got a smirk on her face, “So you play soccer. Football I guess you would call it.”
Harry shook his head,
“No, I never got to play.” Seeing the opportunity Rainbow Dash motioned,
“Well come on. Let me show you how it’s done.”
The star athlete and the boy from Britain then spent the next while passing the ball as Rainbow Dash showed Harry how to handle a ball. He was nowhere near her level but she admitted to herself that he had potential. He had really good reflexes and seemed willing to learn.
“You know Harry, if you like I can coach ya a bit more whenever you want.”
“You sure you want to? I thought that I pretty rubbish.”
“That’s why you practice!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, “Heck, I’m the school’s star player and I’m still out here every day practicing the basics. You won’t get good unless you try. And if you suck at it? Keep trying at it until you get it right.”
“Wise words Rainbow.”
The two adolescences turned to see Celestia walking towards them.
“Trying to induct my nephew already to the teams Rainbow Dash.” She asked with a sly grin.
“Nephew? I thought you were cousins.”
“We are, we just decided to call each other aunt and nephew.” Celestia explained to Rainbow Dash. The athletic girl thought about this for a moment before nodding her approval,
“That’s cool.”
“Harry, Luna and I are done for today. We need to get going if we’re going to get everything done.”
“Alright,” The boy said to his cousin before turning back to Rainbow Dash, “I guess I’ll see you around then?”
“Totally. And hey, give what I said some thought. You could be really good if you wanted to.” The girl said before going back to her drills. After the principal and the new kid were out of sight Rainbow looked to where they had disappeared around the building to the faculty parking lot. Her mind drifted back to the night before and how Harry was a person of interest now. 
She smacked her forehead, chastising herself for getting got up in the game to not ask Harry any questions about himself. How was she going to help if she couldn’t keep her head on straight? Her natural confidence was able to override any self-doubt that arose. She knew there would be other times, especially if he took her up on the coaching offer.
“Well,” She said aloud to herself, “I can say that I didn’t notice anything strange going on around Harry.” She said as she kicked another ball at high speeds into the goal, “Maybe one of the other girls can find something.”

-Canterlot Public Library-

Twilight was excited and anxious. Excited that she was able to help someone find the joy of learning, but nervous that she was going to be handling her first student. It also didn’t help that Harry was now on the ‘Creature from Equestria’ watch list. She checked her backpack just to make sure that the magic detector was there. After the conversation with the other girls last night she made some modifications for covert detection. It would still respond to magic but it would not set off an alarm. Now it would record the time that the alarm went off so she could pull the data later and compare where and for how long there was magic present.
She quickly put the device back into her bag when she saw three figures enter the library. Her two principals and their cousin look around then make their way to the table she was sitting at.
“Good morning Twilight.” Celestia greeted.
“Good morning Principal Celestia, Vice-Principal Luna. Hello Harry.”
“Thank you again for doing this.” Luna said.
“It’s no problem.” Twilight assured. 
“We’ll be back in two hours to pick Harry up. We’ve got some shopping that needs to get done.” Celestia explained before turning and saying to Harry, “You be good for Twilight alright?”
“Yes aunt Celestia.” He responded, before accepting a hug from his cousins. After the two administrators left Twilight rose from her table,
“I’ve got us a study room reserved. I figured we could use that.” Twilight led the way to one of the study rooms and shut the door behind them, “I thought we could start with a little comprehension test. You know, to see where you’re at.”
“Sure.” Harry said a little nervously, obviously not expecting to be tested on his first day.
“It’s nothing hard; just your basic subjects. If you have any questions just ask.”
With that Twilight placed a small leaflet of papers in front of Harry at the table and handed him a pencil. Indeed, the test wasn’t that hard, Harry knew the answers to most of the questions that Twilight had prepared; though American History, the finer points of math, and some reading and comprehension skills were beyond him. Harry was nervous when he handed his test back to Twilight who was able to grade it with the blink of an eye.
“Good job Harry, I can tell you’re very intelligent, but it seems that you’re holding back in parts.”
“What do you mean?”
“Some of these math problems it looks like you started to solve them but then you moved past them. If you had spent some more time thinking about them, you probably would have solved them.” Twilight explained. Then a thought crossed her mind,
“Harry, are you use to not giving your full effort?”
The question looked like it visibly stung Harry. He looked shamefully away from his tutor’s gaze,
“Yah.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Twilight asked remembering one of the lessons that she had learned from her friends. She learned that if a friend seems to be struggling ask them to share and give them comfort.
Letting out a sigh Harry explained,
“Back in Primary School I use to do well in my subjects. My cousin would get mad and bully me even more than he normally would. I learned to not perform to my fullest to spare myself grief.”
The sadness that Twilight had felt for the unfortunate boy increased tenfold. She didn’t know what she would have done if she had not been able to show her full potential during her growing years.
“You don’t have to pretend any more Harry.” He just nodded his head. Twilight perceived that he fully wasn’t convinced but she promised herself that she would help him see that he could do whatever he wanted to. She later relayed this to Celestia and Luna when they came back from their shopping to pick up Harry.
As soon as the family left the library Twilight made a mad dash for the bus station and managed to catch it before it left for the city. The intelligent girl hurried to her home and her room. As soon as she crossed the threshold to her room she was greeted by her assistant,
“Hey Twilight!” Spike said cheerfully, “How did the tutor session go?”
“Harry’s smart. He just needs some encouraging to make him see that he can do well on his own.”
Twilight sat down at her desk and booted up one of her computers. This one was reserved for all the data on magic she had collected. All her old research into the events at Canterlot High before the Friendship Games, energy readouts, as well as the programs needed to run her equipment were stored on the hard drive. She extracted her detector and plugged it in.
“Well that’s good. I mean, if anyone can teach him how to love learning it’s you Twilight.” Spike encouraged.
“Thanks Spike.” She said allowing her dog to leap up into her lap for a petting.
As soon as the program was running, Twilight started collecting the data and watched the resulting graphs take form.
“So what’s up? New magic readings?” Spike asked turning his attention to the computer screen.
“Well, there was a presence of magic throughout the study session.” She switched over to another read out then pulled up a screen shot of a similar graph, “It doesn’t give off the same signature as my friends and their magic.”
“But the kid has magic?” Spike asked.
“It shouldn’t be possible though. According to Sunset Shimmer she brought magic with her from Equestria during the Fall Formal.”
“As far as she knew.” Spike said.
“Huh?”
“I mean; this world has different legends of magic existing in one form or another. Merlin to name one instance.”
“But those are myths Spike.” Twilight tried to counter.
“And you are carrying on a conversation with a talking dog.” He replied flatly.
“Because of the magic from Equestria.”
“So you’re saying that because magic exists in one world it doesn’t exists in another?”
“I…” Twilight could come up with a good response to her assistant’s questions. “Maybe we should look into the possibility of Earth magic.”

-Faust Household-

Harry was really surprised about the mystery shopping that his newly christened aunts had done while he was being tested by Twilight. More specifically, what they had gone shopping for. He now sat across the table from Celestia and Luna looking at a brand-new smart phone and laptop.
“But, why?” He asked them.
“Well,” Celestia started, “We felt that it would help you blend in more with your peers if you had a phone. We also want you to grow outside the house, so you need a way to connect with others, and us in case of emergency. The laptop is for school work, but you can use it for social media as well.”
“But why such a nice phone?” Harry was hardly ever gifted things this nice. The closest that could compare in terms of value that he had been given were Hedwig and his Nimbus 2000.
“Because Harry we felt like giving you something nice.” Luna said with a smile on her face, “Do we need to have any other reason than that?”
Harry let her comment settle in his mind before he smiled,
“I’m going to need some help learning how this works.”
A sudden tapping from the window caught the family’s attention. Outside there was a crow rapping on the window with its beak. The young wizard went to the window and let the crow in. The black bird flew in and landed on the table in front of Celestia and started picking at a roll of paper that had been tied around its leg. Celestia accepted the roll of paper and the crow took off the same way it came in.
“Dear Celestia Faust,” She read, “In accordance to the Wizard Relocation Act of 1852 a representative of the Office of Education will come this Friday at 3 PM to discuss the academic future of your new charge Harry James Potter. Sincerely, Hestia Johnson. Office of Wizarding Immigration.”
The Faust household had been receiving many of these crow correspondences ever since Harry had moved in. The American Magical Government used crow mail for short messages. Despite priding themselves on being able to blend in with non-magical types, the American Government still held to a few cultural traditions. Crows were dispatched to carry small messages on behalf of the varying branches of the magic sector of the government. Why not owls? Simply because an owl showing up in the middle of the day was just too conspicuous.
“Looks like we’re getting another visit.” Luna said with a sigh. It wasn’t that she hated getting Harry’s life set up, she just didn’t like the constant visits from different members of the wizarding community interrupting the time she wanted to be using to get to know her cousin better.
“At least we can figure out how Harry can get his magical education.” Celestia pointed out.
This was a sensitive topic for Harry at the moment. As much as he wanted to attend Hogwarts again international wizarding law prevented him from attending a magical school that was on another continent now that he was a citizen of the American community. He could join the schools in America, Canada, or Mexico but he was not permitted to attend any of the European schools. It had something to do with a law that was passed during the first World War, trying to keep international incidents down to a minimum by keeping children out of harm’s way. This was a hard pill to swallow when he was welcomed into the American wizarding community.
Apparently Harry’s sadness was evident on his face because next thing he knew Luna was giving him a side hug,
“I’m sorry that things didn’t work out like you would like them.”
“It’s alright aunt Luna. I guess it’s either have to leave Hogwarts or live with the Dursleys.”
The doorbell suddenly sounded alerting the family to somebody at the door. A quick response from Celestia revealed the form of Fluttershy standing at the front entrance.
“Hi Ms. Celestia, is Harry in?”
“Of course, one moment.” The older woman invited Fluttershy in and led her into the kitchen,
“Harry, Fluttershy is here to see you.” The timid pink haired girl waved to Harry,
“Hello Ms. Luna. Hi Harry, how are you doing today?”
“I’m doing alright I suppose.”
“He had his first tutoring session with Twilight Sparkle today.” Luna explained.
Fluttershy nodded and addressed Harry,
“Well, the reason I came by today was to give Harry the list of stores where he can find supplies for his owl friend.” Fluttershy pulled a piece of paper from her bag and handed it to Harry who accepted it,
“Thanks Fluttershy. I really appreciate this.”
“It’s no big deal really… but, um…” Fluttershy fidgeted a little before asking, “Could I meet Hedwig? I really like to get to know new animal friends.” She begged.
Harry looked to his cousins for confirmation and they both just shrugged,
“Sure, let me go get her.”
Harry excused himself from the kitchen and hurried up the stairs to his bedroom. This had been one of the bigger rooms that Luna had claimed as her own so it had thick sun blocking curtains and a black and blue color scheme. They both promised that once Harry got settled in further that they would repaint the room according to his desire. His Hogwarts trunk sat at the foot of his bed with his wizard books stored safely inside. His father’s invisibility cloak hung up in the closet with respect along with his wizard robes. Hedwig rested on a perch by the window and looked at him intently as he entered the room.
“Hey girl, feel like meeting someone new?” Harry went to his dresser and pulled out his dragon hide gloves. After putting them on Harry extended his hand and let Hedwig climb on. Wizard and owl entered the kitchen, and Fluttershy’s reaction was priceless. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the snowy owl.
“She’s beautiful.” Fluttershy admired. When Hedwig took in the sight of the newcomer she just stared at Fluttershy for a minute before doing something that surprised Harry. His feathered friend took off from his hand, cleared the distance between him and the teenager, and landed gently on Fluttershy’s shoulder.
“Oh, hello Hedwig, I’m Fluttershy.” Fluttershy said to the owl that was now allowing her feathers to be stroked.
“Wow,” Harry commented, “I wasn’t expecting her to be so friendly so fast.”
“Fluttershy has a way with animals. That’s why she volunteers at the animal shelter.” Luna explained.
“You just got to know how to care for them and love them.” Fluttershy responded.
“You sound just like Hagrid.” Harry said. His eyes suddenly widened with fear.
“Who is Hagrid?” Fluttershy asked with genuine curiosity.
“He was uh, the grounds keeper at my school back in England.” Harry said finding a way to explain about the giant man without giving any specifics away, “He seemed to love animals of all sorts. It seemed that he had a soft spot for the ones that others called dangerous. He named a big guard dog Fluffy. He even tried to raise a large lizard in his hut; but he had to send it away to a reserve because it was against the rules to keep it at the school.”
Fluttershy seemed very interested in Harry’s description of Hagrid.
“It’s so nice to hear that there is somebody that’s willing to give large animals a chance. They simply are misunderstood because they are so big and scary looking.”
“This is coming from the girl that hopped over a fence to help an ill bear on a school trip.” Luna said with a slight hint of annoyance. Luna’s comment brought a blush to Fluttershy’s face at the memory. “But I suppose if you hadn’t park staff wouldn’t have realized that the bear was getting ready to have cubs.”
Harry’s jaw dropped in shock at the story that unfolded before him. Fluttershy didn’t seem like the type that would break any sort of rule. As a matter of fact, from what he could tell the pink haired girl didn’t look like she had a mean bone in her body. Now to find out that she openly disregarded not only a rule but a safety measure? A new level of respect started to form for the animal lover.
“Well, I should be going.” A still embarrassed Fluttershy said before convincing Hedwig to return to Harry. “It was nice to meet you Hedwig. Have a good day Harry.” Fluttershy said her good-byes to the administrative sisters and was on her way out. As soon as the teen was gone Harry looked back at Luna.
“So what was that about Fluttershy jumping the fence?”
Luna pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. The memory obviously too much for her. Celestia was no help, she was chuckling at her sister’s expense.

-Streets of Canterlot, Outside the Faust residence-

When Fluttershy left the home of the Faust sisters and Canterlot’s newest resident she had no idea she was being watched. On the gutters of the house across the street there sat an unassuming robin. The bird watched Fluttershy for some time, following her through the streets of the city. Eventually, when she reached her parent’s home the bird stopped its pursuit and changed course to a warehouse on the outskirts of town. Inside was the headquarters of the Canterlot Investigation Squad. 
The wizard and witches of academic standing were gathered around the collected photos that were gathered from the statue just the day before. They were really getting nowhere with possible translation of the markings. The wizards and witches that were not involved all at computer terminals accessing different files and making reports. The appearance of the robin made a few heads in the room turn and watch as the robin turned into a ginger witch. Agent Hankinson approached her undercover animagus operative,
“Report?” Hankinson asked.
“Ma’am, person of interest Fluttershy visited the Faust residence for a short while before returning to her current residence.” 
“Alright, go make your full report.” Hankinson instructed. The robin animamus walked to an open terminal and started typing up a report. Hankinson turned her attention back to the wizards and witches working on the statue markings.
“Any new progress?”
“Not in the five minutes since you last asked.” Professor Smith remarked not looking up from the photos.
Another consulting wizard spoke up,
“The problem is that we can’t pin down these markings to any culture on Earth.”
“How does that…” All scholarly wizards and witches moaned at the stupid question.
“If you can understand what culture was used to build the spell then you have a basis on which to begin building a deconstruction. Honestly, what are they teaching at Salem these days?”
Professor Smith took over the explanation,
“If we knew what cultural basis was used to build the magic that is obviously present here we could understand what it does.” Seamlessly the professor switched into lecture mode, drawing the attention of the agents at their terminals as they listened in to what the esteemed magical theorist had to say,
“When humanity spread from its point of origin so did human magic users. Those magic users excelled in particular aspects according to what their non-magic culture was built around. The Egyptians were the first to build wards and protective spells as evidenced in their tombs The Greeks had a knack for transfiguration; all those stories about the gods getting angry at mortals and turning them into creatures of one sort or another were actually wizards and witches having fun at the expense of their non-magic counterparts. Asians with their understanding of the moon and its cycles were able to advance the realm of potion brewing. The Romans in their time advanced combat and defensive magics with leaps and bounds. The Norse people were able to advance the realm of enchanting an item through engraving it with spells.
“These ideas were spread throughout the world as history progressed. As one nation dominated the known world they spread their ideas to the conquered countries and they in turn would receive a little back. This magical exchange was most prevalent during the height of Britain’s colonial power, when their influence was felt all over the world.
“What we have before us is an interesting conundrum. These symbols we gathered from the statue cannot be traced back to any base culture. When you think you are dealing with ancient Greek it switches to Mesoamerican. Then it jumps over to Egyptian hieroglyphics and then to Chinese characters.”
One of the wizards who was an expert in ancient languages and spells spoke up,
“It’s like trying to translate the Rosetta Stone with the different languages having nothing to do with the other one.”
“Exactly. It’s so well blended together that it is a language of its own. Something not used…” Professor Smith’s eyes went wide as a memory came to his mind, “In this world.” His hand nervously ran through his hair as his eyes darted around the collect photos. Finally, he turned to Hankinson and said,
“Agent Hankinson, I think I know of something needed to get a lead on this investigation; but I will need to go off site to retrieve it.”
“As per regulations I cannot allow you to leave the investigation without escort. Parker!” Hankinson barked. An agent at one of the terminals stood up at attention, “You have the com until my return.”
“Yes Ma’am!”
In a more hushed tone Hankinson asked the Professor,
“What exactly are we retrieving?”
The brilliant mind of the American University of Magic looked depressed as he explained,
“In 1954 a theory so radical was presented that it was shut down by the academic community with little consideration as to its validity. A full copy of the theory as well as all the research that went into it was kept in storage by the man who formulated it in case one of his descendants wanted to bring his work back into the light. I have seen this work and only now do I see there is some connection between that theory and the work that we have going on here. I just need to get those research notes.”
“Do you believe there will be any trouble retrieving them from the family?”
“There shouldn’t be. The man who purposed the theory was Oliver Madison Smith, my grandfather.”